Crafting a memorable movie scene isn’t easy. Especially one that stands the test of time to be considered among the greatest ever. A lot of thought and care goes into getting something from page to screen, and few have done it better over the years than M. Night Shyamalan. The bench press scene in Unbreakable is a classic, as is the one in Split where Kevin Wendell Crumb finally unleashes his 24th and most powerful personality, The Beast. However, they pale in comparison to a scene in his 2004 sci-fi horror classic, Signs.
Starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix, Signs tells the tale of a former Episcopal priest named Graham (Gibson) who lost his faith after his wife was tragically killed. Living with him on a farm in rural Pennsylvania are his two children, and his younger brother, Merrill (Phoenix), a failed minor league baseball player. After discovering a crop circle in their cornfield, the existence of extraterrestrial life is confirmed to be true, but the aliens visiting earth are anything but friendly. Signs is a classic tale of faith, grief, family, and coincidence, which all work together to deliver a film filled with memorable moments. One, however, stands head and shoulders above the rest.
The Setup
From the get-go, Signs is one of those movies that starts out with a suspenseful hook that immediately grabs the viewers’ attention. The discovery of the crop circle in the first five minutes sets the stage for everything to come, and immediately tells us that we’re probably in for a story about extraterrestrials.
Shyamalan waits to confirm this, though, using restraint and building tension in the interim with scenes like the unknown intruder scampering over Graham’s roof in the middle of the night, and the one with the baby monitor in the car. It isn’t until about 40 minutes into Signs that we finally get the big reveal of the alien aircraft hovering over various cities.
The question then becomes: What do these invaders look like? Our imagination is already running wild thanks to the brief sighting in the cornfield and the excellent use of sound design, but Shyamalan leans into the “little green men” trope that became popular in the 1950s. Graham’s son reads from a book that describes them as beings with small bodies, big heads, and huge, almond eyes, which almost feels like a let-down compared to what our brains have already come up with.
The Reveal
Finally, after almost an hour, we get to the moment we’ve all been waiting for, which is hands down one of the best scenes in the history of cinema. As Graham goes to confront the man who accidentally killed his wife and is told that one of the aliens is locked in a pantry, things quickly cut to a scene back at the farm house which sees Merrill in a closet watching TV. A report comes on that features some “disturbing” footage from a child’s birthday party in Brazil. We all lean forward with Merrill, watching the news from his point of view.
What makes this reveal so great is the extreme realism with which it plays out. The shaky and grainy home video is something we believe could be shown on the news, which means we don’t have to suspend much of our disbelief to become invested in it. As the children gather en masse at the window to peer outside, Merrill is all of us screaming, “Move, children. Vamanos!” That gets a chuckle from the audience, but the humor quickly turns to horror as those several seconds of anticipation pay off beautifully.
The alien finally comes into view accompanied by a sharp, musical sting, and it’s not anything like we expected. Far from the little green man Shyamalan set up earlier, this creature is abnormally tall, lanky yet muscular, and though it’s only shown for less than two seconds, it appears to have an expression of menace on its face. Once again, Merrill represents all of us watching as he recoils, screaming with surprise and terror. As the footage is rewound and paused on the alien being, it’s still not exactly clear what we’re seeing, but it’s enough for us to realize that humankind is definitely in a lot of trouble.
Suspense Done Right
- Release Date
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August 2, 2002
- Runtime
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106 minutes
- Producers
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Frank Marshall
That one scene in Signs has undoubtedly become an iconic movie moment, and rightfully so. While some can argue that Shyamalan has lost a bit of his touch as his career has gone on, there’s no denying that his early work was a masterclass in building Hitchcockian suspense in the modern world. Everything about it, from the 57 minutes before, right up to the moment the alien is shown, is absolutely brilliant.
To this day, it still sends a shiver down my spine that’s quickly followed up with a laugh to help relieve all that built up tension and adrenaline. Having recently re-watched it, it’s just as impactful now as it was back in 2002, and I suspect it will still have the same effect on me ten years from now.